Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for more than a million people along the Florida coast. It is the largest such operation in the history of the US federal state. Mandatory evacuation affects coastal areas where sea flooding of up to 4 meters is expected. Florida officials warned that being on the beach during the storm’s landfall poses a deadly risk. Long traffic jams formed on the highways leading inland from the coast and north and west.
Governor Ron DeSantis indicated in his briefing on Tuesday afternoon local time that Hurricane Milton is expected to reach the west coast of the state on Wednesday night. He also reported that many gas stations in West Florida affected by the evacuation area had long lines and gas shortages. Florida has enough reserves, which means millions of liters of diesel and gasoline. Missing fuel is delivered to the gas stations with the help of the police, that is, in order for the shipments to reach the gas stations as soon as possible, highway police patrols help the fuel trucks, which operate 24 hours a day, the governor said at his briefing on Tuesday. He also emphasized that the hurricane will affect the largest part of the peninsula. The storm can bring up to 300 millimeters of precipitation in a short period of time, which is why flooding is also expected. They are equipped with power generators, pumps and sandbags, as well as mobile air conditioning equipment, and shelters have been set up. Hundreds of flights have already been canceled at various airports in Florida, and the number may increase on Wednesday.
Ron DeSantis checked with President Joe Biden, who gave him his personal phone number just in case. Florida’s state leader also reported that they received help from several federal states for the preparation, and ordered the largest mobilization of the Florida National Guard in the history of preparations for a storm.
According to meteorologists, the center of the hurricane will make landfall around Tampa, but it may cause damage in a wide strip of hundreds of kilometers.
Hurricane Milton was over the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday as a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 220 kilometers per hour. According to calculations, the storm may lose strength in the next 24 hours, but it could still be one of the biggest hurricanes of the last century, reaching Florida from the west.
A life-threatening hurricane is headed for Florida
The White House announced Tuesday that Joe Biden has postponed his official trip to Germany and Africa due to the hurricane. At a public event in Wisconsin, the president asked Florida residents to follow the instructions of local authorities.
With Hurricane Milton the second storm to hit western Florida in less than two weeks, authorities have not even been able to clean up the debris from Hurricane Helene. In other states of the southeastern part of the United States, primarily in North Carolina, they continue to work to eliminate the damage caused by the floods 10 days ago. Almost 250 people died in six states due to Hurricane Helene and the floods that followed, many others are still missing, and even on Tuesday, around 150,000 consumers were without electricity
Source: nepszava.hu
